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Isaiah Chapter
Twenty-seven
Isaiah 27
Chapter Contents
God's care over his people. (1-5) A promise of their
recall to Divine favour. (6-13)
Commentary on Isaiah 27:1-5
(Read Isaiah 27:1-5)
The Lord Jesus with his strong sword, the virtue of his
death, and the preaching of his gospel, does and will destroy him that had the
power of death, that is, the devil, that old serpent. The world is a fruitless,
worthless wilderness; but the church is a vineyard, a place that has great care
taken of it, and from which precious fruits are gathered. God will keep it in
the night of affliction and persecution, and in the day of peace and
prosperity, the temptations of which are not less dangerous. God also takes
care of the fruitfulness of this vineyard. We need the continual waterings of
Divine grace; if these be at any time withdrawn, we wither, and come to
nothing. Though God sometimes contends with his people, yet he graciously waits
to be reconciled unto them. It is true, when he finds briers and thorns instead
of vines, and they are set in array against him, he will tread them down and
burn them. Here is a summary of the doctrine of the gospel, with which the
church is to be watered every moment. Ever since sin first entered, there has
been, on God's part, a righteous quarrel, but, on man's part, most unrighteous.
Here is a gracious invitation given. Pardoning mercy is called the power of our
Lord; let us take hold on that. Christ crucified is the power of God. Let us by
lively faith take hold on his strength who is a strength to the needy,
believing there is no other name by which we can be saved, as a man that is
sinking catches hold of a bough, or cord, or plank, that is in his reach. This
is the only way, and it is a sure way, to be saved. God is willing to be
reconciled to us.
Commentary on Isaiah 27:6-13
(Read Isaiah 27:6-13)
In the days of the gospel, the latter days, the gospel
church shall be more firmly fixed than the Jewish church, and shall spread
further. May our souls be continually watered and kept, that we may abound in
the fruits of the Spirit, in all goodness, righteousness, and truth. The Jews
yet are kept a separate and a numerous people; they have not been rooted out as
those who slew them. The condition of that nation, through so many ages, forms
a certain proof of the Divine origin of the Scriptures; and the Jews live
amongst us, a continued warning against sin. But though winds are ever so
rough, ever so high, God can say to them, Peace, be still. And though God will
afflict his people, yet he will make their afflictions to work for the good of
their souls. According to this promise, since the captivity in Babylon, no
people have shown such hatred to idols and idolatry as the Jews. And to all
God's people, the design of affliction is to part between them and sin. The
affliction has done us good, when we keep at a distance from the occasions of
sin, and use care that we may not be tempted to it. Jerusalem had been defended
by grace and the Divine protection; but when God withdrew, she was left like a
wilderness. This has awfully come to pass. And this is a figure of the
deplorable state of the vineyard, the church, when it brought forth wild
grapes. Sinners flatter themselves they shall not be dealt with severely,
because God is merciful, and is their Maker. We see how weak those pleas will
be. Verses 12,13, seem to predict the restoration of the
Jews after the Babylonish captivity, and their recovery from their present
dispersion. This is further applicable to the preaching of the gospel, by which
sinners are gathered into the grace of God; the gospel proclaims the acceptable
year of the Lord. Those gathered by the sounding of the gospel trumpet, are brought
in to worship God, and added to the church; and the last trumpet will gather
the saints together.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Isaiah》
Isaiah 27
Verse 1
[1] In
that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan
the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay
the dragon that is in the sea.
Leviathan — By
this leviathan, serpent and dragon (for all signify the same thing) be
understands some powerful enemy or enemies of God, and of his church or people,
which may well be called by these names, partly for their great might, and
partly for the great terror and destruction which they cause upon the earth.
The piercing —
Which by its sting pierces deeply into mens bodies.
Crooked serpent —
Winding and turning itself with great variety and dexterity. Whereby he seems
to signify the craftiness and activity of this enemy, whose strength makes it
more formidable.
Verse 2
[2] In that day sing ye unto her, A vineyard of red wine.
In that day —
When this enemy shall be destroyed.
A vineyard — My
church and people, of red wine, of the choicest and best wine, which in those
parts was red.
Verse 3
[3] I
the LORD do keep it; I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will
keep it night and day.
I keep it — I
will protect my church from all her enemies, and supply her with all necessary
provisions.
Verse 5
[5] Or
let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me; and he shall
make peace with me.
Or — Or if at any time
fury seem to be in me against my people.
Let him — My
people.
Take hold —
Which he may by humble prayer not only restrain from doing him hurt, but engage
to do him good.
Verse 6
[6] He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root: Israel shall blossom
and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit.
Take root — To
be firmly settled in their possessions.
Fruit —
Their posterity shall seek habitations in other countries, and replenish them
with people. But this seems to be understood of the spiritual seed of Jacob.
Verse 7
[7] Hath
he smitten him, as he smote those that smote him? or is he slain according to
the slaughter of them that are slain by him?
Hath he — He
hath not dealt so severely with his people, as he hath dealt with their
enemies, whom he hath utterly destroyed.
Of them — Of
those who were slain by God on the behalf of Israel.
Verse 8
[8] In
measure, when it shooteth forth, thou wilt debate with it: he stayeth his rough
wind in the day of the east wind.
In measure —
With moderation.
When —
When the vine shooteth forth its luxuriant branches, he cuts them off, but so
as not to destroy the vine.
Contend —
God is said to contend with men, when he executes his judgments upon them, Amos 7:4.
Stayeth — He
mitigates the severity of the judgment.
In the day — In
the time when he sends forth his east-wind; which he mentions because that wind
in those parts was most violent and most hurtful.
Verse 9
[9] By
this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged; and this is all the fruit
to take away his sin; when he maketh all the stones of the altar as chalkstones
that are beaten in sunder, the groves and images shall not stand up.
By this — By
this manner of God's dealing with them.
When —
Which sin of Jacob's shall be purged, when he shall truly repent of all his
sins, and especially of his idolatry.
Altar —
Their idolatrous altars. Possibly he may say the altar, with respect to that
particular altar, which Ahaz had set upon the place of God's own altar; and
this prophecy might be delivered in Ahaz's time, while that altar stood.
Chalk-stones —
When he shall break all those goodly altars in pieces.
Not stand —
Shall be thrown down with contempt.
Verse 10
[10] Yet
the defenced city shall be desolate, and the habitation forsaken, and left like
a wilderness: there shall the calf feed, and there shall he lie down, and
consume the branches thereof.
Yet —
Yet before this glorious promise be fulfilled, a dreadful and desolating
judgment shall come.
The city —
Jerusalem and the rest of the defenced cities in the land.
The habitation —
The most inhabited and populous places.
The calf —
This is put for all sorts of cattle, which may securely feed there, because
there shall be no men left to disturb them.
Verse 11
[11] When
the boughs thereof are withered, they shall be broken off: the women come, and
set them on fire: for it is a people of no understanding: therefore he that
made them will not have mercy on them, and he that formed them will shew them
no favour.
Broken —
That there may be no hopes of their recovery.
Women — He
mentions women, because the men would be destroyed.
Not understanding —
They know not the things which concerns their peace, but they blindly and
wilfully go on in sin.
Therefore —
Thus he overthrows their conceit that God would never destroy the work of his
own hands.
Verse 12
[12] And
it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall beat off from the
channel of the river unto the stream of Egypt, and ye shall be gathered one by
one, O ye children of Israel.
Beat out — It
is a metaphor from grain which was beaten out with a rod or staff, and then
carefully gathered and laid up.
From —
From Euphrates to the Nile, which were the two borders of the land of promise.
All the Israelites who are left in the land.
One by one —
Which signifies, God's exact care of them.
Verse 13
[13] And
it shall come to pass in that day, that the great trumpet shall be blown, and
they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the
outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the LORD in the holy mount at
Jerusalem.
Trumpet —
God shall summon them altogether by sound of trumpet, by an eminent call of his
providence. He alludes to the custom of calling the Israelites together with
trumpets.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Isaiah》
27 Chapter 27
Verses 1-13
Verse 1
The Lord . . . Shall punish leviathan
The Church has formidable enemies
The Church has many enemies, but commonly someone that is more
formidable than the rest.
So Sennacherib was in his day, and Nebuchadnezzar in his, and Antiochus in his.
So Pharaoh had been formerly; and he is called “leviathan,” and the “dragon” (Psalms 74:14; Isaiah 51:9; Ezekiel 29:3). And the New Testament
Church has had its leviathans; we read of a “great red dragon, ready to devour
it” (Revelation 12:3). Those malignant,
persecuting powers are here compared to the leviathan in bulk and strength, and
the mighty bustle they make in the world; to dragons, for their rage and fury;
to serpents, piercing serpents, penetrating in their counsels, quick in their
motions, that if they once get in their head, will soon wind in their whole body;
“crossing like a bar,” so the margin, standing in the way of all their
neighbours and obstructing them; to crooked serpents, subtle sad insinuating,
but perverse and mischievous. (M. Henry.)
Verse 2-3
A vineyard of red wine
The Church a vineyard of red wine
The Church of God is here compared to a vineyard.
The vine is a tender plant, needing continual care; and if the vineyard is not
well fenced and guarded, the enemies of the vine are sure to get in and destroy
it. The Church is called “a vineyard of red wine,” because the red grape
happened to be the best kind grown in Palestine; and, in like manner, God’s
Church is to Him the best of the best, the excellent of the earth, in whom is
all His delight. But what is true of the whole Church is also true of every
member; the same God who keeps the vineyard also protects every vine, nay, not
only so, but His care extends to every little branch, to every-spreading leaf, and
to every clinging tendril of that vine which He undertakes to keep night and
day. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The vineyard of red wine
In what day? The day of threatening and punishment of the wicked.
The Church needs encouragement amid danger and darkness. And God gives it when
required.
I. WHAT SHE IS. A
vineyard of red wine. A common figure of the Church. It is to intimate--
1. That members are separate from the world and enclosed around.
2. That they are cultivated and eared for. They differ from the world
as flowers from weeds, a garden from a wilderness.
3. That they are owned. Believers are God’s people, His chosen
inheritance, His private property.
4. That they are profitable. A vineyard yields fruit, and so adds to
the advantage of its owner. It is a vineyard of “red wine.” A vineyard from
which is extracted the richest juice. Everything of God’s doing is not only
perfect, but superior. Everything with which He supplies His people is the
best. “Their peace passeth understanding.” Their joy is “full of glory.”
II. WHAT SHE IS TO
POSSESS. “I, the Lord, do keep it,” etc. Here is--
1. Guardianship. The Keeper gives His whole attention to Its
protection. How wise a guardian is God! “Lest any hurt it.” His whole army of
angels act as a guard with their flaming swords.
2. Provisions. “I will water it.” The act of watering means all the
necessary provision required for the nourishment of the vines and the
production of fruit. The Holy Spirit is likened to the water of life, which
Christ has promised to give freely to all who ask Him. There are also His
ordinances and sacraments.
3. Vigilance. “Keep it constantly”--night and day. The great God
slumbers not nor sleeps. His eye is ever on His people. No foe can elude His
guardianship. (Homilist.)
The Church as God’s vineyard
What a contrast between the vineyard here spoken of and that whose
history was given in the fifth chapter of this prophet. That was a favoured
vineyard. Everything was done for it to promote its fruitfulness; but what sort
of fruit did it produce? “God looked that it should bring forth grapes: and it
brought forth wild grapes.” What happened then? His indignation fell upon it.
By that unfruitful vineyard was represented the Jewish people. But now turn and
behold the other vineyard
- that which is brought before us by my text. This vineyard is the
real,spiritual Church of the Redeemer.
I. THE DESCRIPTION
GIVEN OF THIS VINEYARD. The spiritual Church of Jesus is “a vineyard of red
wine.”
1. By this “red wine” may be intended, perhaps in part, the faith of
Christ’s elect people. “Red wine” was in great esteem amongst ancient Jews, as
appears in Proverbs 23:31.
2. The Lord may call His Church “a vineyard of red wine,” in reference
to the love she bears to Him.
3. Christ’s Church is a “vineyard of red wine,” because she “abounds
in all the fruits of righteousness.”
II. THE PRIVILEGE
WHICH IT IS REPRESENTED AS ENJOYING. The vineyards of the Jews were carefully
kept and cultivated. The vines in the country of the Jews appear to have needed
constant watering. The Lord’s spiritual vineyard needs perpetual watering from
above. These natural vineyards in which the Jewish land abounded required,
however, something more than cultivation. A chief part of the duty of the
“keepers of the vineyard” was to protect the vines from depredation. And is the
spiritual vineyard less exposed? (A. Roberts, M. A.)
God’s care for His vineyard a subject for song
To them who are ready to conclude that God hath forgotten to be
gracious these words may prove a source of encouragement. They--
I. REPRESENT THE
PEOPLE OF GOD AS A VINEYARD. As God values His vineyard for the same reasons
that men value their vineyards (because of its fruit), it behoves us to inquire
what sort of fruit it is which makes His vineyard valuable to Him. All the
asperities of disposition and all the want of spiritual excellence, which we
may suppose are designed by wild grapes, must give place to “whatsoever things
are true; whatsoever things are honest; whatsoever things are just; whatsoever
things are pure; whatsoever things are lovely, and whatsoever things are of
good report.” “Love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
meekness, temperance,” must adorn and beautify your character.
II. DESCRIBE GOD’S
CARE FOR HIS VINEYARD. The care of God for His vineyard is manifested in two
ways: by His unceasing attention to the culture and growth of these heavenly
fruits, and by His unremitting vigilance in preserving it. The soil is not
congenial with a plant of heavenly origin. For the heart of man is hard and
unfruitful. The clime of this world is cold and variable: the atmosphere
tainted with sin; and every wind of passion blights and withers the vine. If
the sun of persecution and trouble smites it too often it is scorched. He,
therefore, who has planted it for His own glory, and who is always glorified
when it brings forth much fruit, watches over it, tends it with solicitude.
There is not one moment when you who love and serve God cease to be the objects
of His care, and of His renovating influence.
III. A SUBJECT FOR
SONG. This song implies, that the people of God have the knowledge and
enjoyment of His care and protection. It is not the will of God that you who
have repented, and are doing works meet for repentance; who have believed in
Christ, and have a faith which worketh by love, should continue in doubt and
uncertainty respecting your state. As the song should be appropriate to the
occasion and suitable to the subject, the song which we are to sing is--
1. A song of adoring admiration.
2. Of joyful gratitude.
3. Of holy confidence.
4. Of deep humility.
You are called upon to be humble because you have nothing that you
have not received, but also because, after having received so much, and after
being laid under obligations so many and so distinguishing, you make returns so
inadequate and so unsuitable. (M. Jackson.)
Verse 3
I, the Lord, do keep it
The Lord the Keeper of His people
There is nothing to which we are naturally more prone, nothing
more dangerous, nothing so difficult to eradicate as self-confidence.
And yet there is nothing so delightful as to feel that we have not anything in
ourselves in which we can be confident. For the moment we have arrived at that
experience we are prepared to turn to Him without whom we can do nothing.”
I. IN WHAT SENSE
THE LORD IS THE KEEPER OF HIS PEOPLE.
1. In one sense the Lord is the keeper of all; for “in Him all live,
and move, and have their being.” And the Apostle Paul (1 Timothy 4:10) speaks of Him as
“the Saviour, or preserver, of all men, specially of those that believe.”
2. He speaks of keeping them as a city from an enemy.
3. He speaks again of keeping them as a vineyard from foxes. In Song of Solomon 2:15 we read, “Take us
the foxes, the little foxes that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender
grapes.” Those things which may appear gentle and innocent have a tendency to
undermine the work of indwelling grace.
4. Again, the Lord speaks of keeping His people as the apple of His
eye.
5. I might speak again of the fires of persecution, through which His
people are called to pass. For here again the Lord is the Keeper of His people.
6. He not only defends and preserves His people, but He keeps them
refreshed in seasons of drought by continual and plentiful supplies of mercy
and grace. So in the text He says, “I will water it every moment?”
II. WHEN IS IT THAT
HE KEEPS THEM? “By day and by night.” He watches over them continually, in the
bright day of prosperity and in the dark night of adversity.
III. HOW IS IT THAT
THE LORD KEEPS HIS PEOPLE?
1. By His angels (Hebrews 1:14).
2. By His ministers; by their warning voice in public; or by that
advice and reproof, and instruction which they give in private.
3. By His providential dispensations.
4. By His own omnipotent arm. His people are “kept by the power of
God through faith unto salvation.”
IV. WHAT WARRANT WE
HAVE AS HIS PEOPLE TO EXPECT THAT THE LORD WILL BE OUR KEEPER.
1. The first plain proof of this is, that as His people we are not
our own, but given to Christ.
2. Coupled with this, we may consider the faithfulness of Jesus (2 Thessalonians 3:3).
3. Connect with this, the consideration of the love of Jesus for His
people.
4. Indeed, we have as believers the warrant of the Triune Jehovah for
believing that the Lord will be our keeper. Bear in mind that, until the time
when knowledge shall be increased, and faith and hope end in sight and
enjoyment, we shall never be aware of the full extent of our obligations to
Him as the Keeper of His people. Yet, while we thankfully lay hold
of the comfort which this truth is calculated to give, let us remember that our
own responsibility is not overthrown. On the contrary, it is increased. For
though encouraged to trust in the Lord as our keeper, there is no excuse for
neglect of duty on account of our own weakness; but rather encouragement to say
with the apostle, “I can do all things through Christ, who strengtheneth me.” (M.
Villiers M. A.)
God’s care of His vineyard
God takes care--
I. Of the SAFETY
of this vineyard. “I, the Lord, do keep it.”
II. Of the
FRUITFULNESS of this vineyard. “I will water it every moment,” and yet it shall
not be over watered. (M. Henry.)
The keeper of the vineyard
I. THE CONTINUAL
KEEPING which the Lord promises to His vineyard.
1. Do I need keeping?
2. Can I not keep myself?
3. Do I enjoy this keeping?
II. THE LORD’S
CONTINUAL WATERING.
1. Do I need watering within as well as keeping without? Yes, for
there is not a single grace I have that can live an hour without being divinely
watered. Besides, the soil in which I am planted is very dry. Then, the
atmosphere that is round about us does not naturally yield us any water. The
means of grace, which are like clouds hovering over our heads, are often
nothing but clouds. The beauty of the text seems to me to lie in the last two
words: “I will water it every moment.”
2. Have we all realised, as a matter of experience, that the Lord
does water us every moment? (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Kept and watered
God is both a wall and a well to His people. (C. H.Spurgeon)
God’s vine needs keeping
1. There is the arch enemy; how he longs to lay the axe at the roots
of God’s vines!
2. There is a wild boar of the woods, that would fain tear us up by
the roots; I mean, that wild boar of unbelief that is constantly prowling
around us. How does it seek with its sharp tusks to bark our vines and fig
trees!
3. Then, the vine is often subject to injury from various kinds of
insects. We have the fly of pride.
4. Then, the vine is subject to the attacks of the little foxes that
Solomon speaks of,--I mean, false doctrine and sceptical teaching.
5. Besides, when we have a few grapes that are beginning to ripen
there are the birds that come and try to pick the fruit,--those dark-winged
thoughts of worldliness and selfishness which come to us all. (C. H.
Spurgeon)
God the Keeper of His vineyard
A vineyard will engross the whole of a man’s time--perhaps the
time of many men. The nourishing of the soil, the pruning of the branches, the
syringing of the leaves, the thinning of the grapes, the support of the heavy
clusters--all demand constant and assiduous care. There is a tendency in all
cultivated things to go back to their original type. However it may be made to
agree with the modern ideas of development and evolution, it is nevertheless a
fact that the fairest results of human skill are not in themselves permanent;
but tend ever backward to the rudest and simplest forms of their species--the
apple tree to the crab, the vine of Sorek to the wild vine of the hills.
Therefore the keeper of the vineyard is ever engaged in fighting every tendency
towards deterioration with unwavering patience. With similar care, but with
much more tenderness, God is ever watching over us. With eager eyes He marks
the slightest sign of deterioration--a hardening conscience; a deadening
spirituality; a waning love. Any symptom of this sort fills Him with--if I may
use the words--keen anxiety; and His gentle but skilful hand is at once at work
to arrest the evil, restore the soul, and force it onward to new accessions of
that Divine life which is our only true bliss and rest. Let us not carry the
responsibility of our nurture. It is too much for us. Better far is it to
devolve the care of our keeping on our faithful Creator. (F. B.Meyer, B. A.)
God the great Preserver
It is not with God as it is with carpenters and shipwrights, who
make houses for other men to dwell in, vessels for others to sail in, and
therefore after they are made look after them no more; God, who made all things
for Himself, looks after the preservation of all. (John Arrowsmith, D. D.)
God’s solicitude for His people
The tear water, constantly flowing over our eyes, removes the grit
and dust that alight on them, impairing our power of vision. The eager mother
shields her children from any polluting words or influences that might approach
them from child companion or school fellow. The physician is eagerly solicitous
that no germ of disease should enter an open wound, and lays his instruments in
carbolic that they may carry no spore on their keen edge. And may we not count
even more certainly on Him who says, “I, the Lord, do keep it,” etc. (Christian
Endeavour.)
I will water it every
moment
A refreshing promise
In warm climates irrigation is essential to fertility; hence
travellers see on all sides pools and watercourses, wheels and cisterns, and
channels for the water to flow in.
I. There is a
great NECESSITY for the watering promised in the text.
1. This we might conclude from the promise itself, since there is not
one superfluous word of promise in the whole Scriptures, but it becomes more
evident when we reflect that all creature life is dependent upon the perpetual
outgoing of Divine power.
2. Moreover, the truth is specially certain as touching the believer,
for a multitude of agencies are at work to dry up the moisture of his soul.
3. Neither have we any other source of supply but the living God.
“All my springs are in Thee.”
4. Our need of Divine watering is clearly seen when we consider what
drought, and barrenness, and death would come upon us if His hand were
withdrawn. Without watering every moment the most faithful among us would be
cast forth, and be only fit for the fire; every prophet would become a Balaam,
every apostle a Judas, every disciple a Demas.
II. THE MANNER in
which the Lord promises to water His people--“I will water it every moment.”
1. Our first thought is excited by the perpetual act--“every moment.”
Mercy knows no pause. Grace has no canonical hours, or rather all hours are
alike canonical: yea, and all moments too.
2. The Lord’s watering is a renewed act. He does not water us once in
great abundance, and then leave us to live upon what He has already poured out.
3. A personal act. “I will water it.”
III. THE CERTAINTY
that the Lord will water every plant that His own right hand hath planted. Here
a vast number of arguments suggest themselves, but we wilt content ourselves
with the one ground of confidence which is found in the Lord Himself and His
previous deeds of love. Our souls need supplies so great as to drain rivers of
grace, but the all-sufficient God is able to meet the largest demands of the
innumerable company of His people, and He will meet them to His own honour and
glory forever. Here, then, we see His truth, His power, and His all-sufficiency
pledged to provide for His chosen, and we may be sure that the guarantee will
stand. If we needed further confirmation we might well remember that the Lord
has already watered His vineyard in a far more costly manner than it win ever
need again. The Lord Jesus has watered it with a sweat of blood, and can it be
supposed that He will leave it now? Hitherto the sacred promise has been fully
kept, for we have been graciously preserved in spiritual life. Droughty times
have befallen us, and yet our soul has not been suffered to famish; why, then,
should we question the goodness of the Lord as to years to come! One thing is
never to be forgotten--we are the Lord’s. Therefore, if He do not water us, He
will Himself be the loser. An owner of vine lands, if he should suffer them to
be parched with the drought, would derive nothing from his estate; the vineyard
would be dried up, but he himself would receive no clusters. With reverence be
it spoken, our Lord Himself will never see of the travail of His soul in
untended vines, nor in hearts unsanctified, nor in men whose graces droop and
die for want of Divine refreshings. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Verse 4-5
Fury is not in Me.
--Of all the senses put upon this difficult verse there are only two which can
be looked upon as natural or probable. The first may be paraphrased as
follows:--It is not because I am cruel or revengeful that I thus afflict My
people, but because she is a vineyard overrun with thorns or briars, on account
of which I must pass through her and consume her (i.e., burn them out of
her)
. The other is this: I am no longer angry with My people; oh, that their
enemies (as thorns and briars) would array themselves against Me, that I might
rush upon them and consume them. (J. A. Alexander.)
Liberty and discipline
I. A BLESSED
ABSENCE IN THE NATURE OF GOD. “Fury is not in Me.” Fury seems to be
uncontrolled and uncontrollable anger. A vessel in a storm, with its rudder
gone or its screw broken, is passive in the power of winds and waves. A lion,
who for hours has been disappointed of his prey, is passive under the dominion
of his hunger. In both cases no influence, internal or external, is able to
resist the onward course. And when a man is so in the hand of anger that no
consideration from within or intercession from without can mollify him, when he
is passive in its power, he is in a state of fury. But no such estate is
possible to our God. His anger is always under control, and we have plentiful
evidence that, in the height of His displeasure, He is accessible to
intercession on behalf of His creatures. Nevertheless--
II. THIS BLESSED
ABSENCE IN THE NATURE OF GOD IS COMPATIBLE WITH CONTENTION WITH THE
UNREPENTING. “Who would set the briars and thorns against Me in battle?” etc.
Imagine a father and son at variance, the father being in the right and the son
in the wrong, There are two ways of reconciliation: either the son must comply
with the conditions of the father, or the father must lower his standard to the
level of the son. But what a wrong would the father do to himself, his family,
and society if he were to adopt this course. He ought not, will not. If the son
resolves to fight it out, reconciliation is impossible. This is the relative
position of God and the ungodly man. God declares His conditions, “Let the
wicked forsake his way,” etc. Consider what is involved in the conditions of
the ungodly. Nothing less than the inversion of the whole moral law. God says,
“I am Jehovah, I change not.” It is a blessed impossibility. But the
unrepentant man ought, can, must! If not, the fire of goodness must be set
against the briars of wickedness, a contest as hopeless, and of which the issue
is as certain, as that of the devouring flame with briars and thorns.
III. THE ABSENCE OF
FURY IN GOD LEADS HIM TO PREFER PARDON TO PUNISHMENT, AND TO PROVIDE MEANS FOR
THE FORMER. “Let him take hold of My strength,” etc. Men, churches, and nations
are lovers of peace in proportion as they are righteous (Psalms 72:3). The preference of God for
peace depends upon the very attribute of which the ungodly would rob
Him--namely, His righteousness. What is God’s strength? How take hold of it?
When a man falls overboard at sea, the appointed means of rescue is the life
belt which is thrown to him. Seizing that, he takes hold of the strength of the
vessel to save him. When the man slayer, fleeing from the avenger of blood,
entered the city of refuge, he took hold of God’s appointed means of shelter.
God’s strength is His pardoning prerogative, exercised to us through Christ,
the “arm,” or “strength,” of the Lord. (H. Bushnell, D. D.)
Fury not in God
I. FURY IS NOT IN
GOD. But how can this be? Is not fury one manifestation of His essential
attributes--do we not repeatedly read of His fury--of Jerusalem being full of
the fury of the Lord--of God casting the fury of His wrath upon the world--of
Him rendering His anger upon His enemies with fury--of Him accomplishing his
fury upon Zion--of Him causing His fury to rest on the bloody and devoted city?
We are not, therefore, to think that fury is banished altogether from God’s
administration. There are times and occasions when this fury is discharged upon
the objects of it; and there must be other times and occasions when there is no
fury in Him. Now, what is the occasion upon which He disclaims all fury in our
text? He is inviting men to reconciliation; and He is assuring them that if
they will only take hold of His strength they shall make peace with Him. Fury
will be discharged on those who reject the invitation. But we cannot say that
there is any exercise of fury in God at the time of giving the invitation.
There is the most visible and direct contrary. This very process was all gone
through at and before the destruction of Jerusalem. It rejected the warnings
and invitations of the Saviour, and at length experienced His fury. But there
was no fury at the time of His giving the invitations. The tone of our
Saviour’s voice when He uttered, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem,” was not the tone of
a vindictive and irritated fury. There was compassion in it--a warning and
pleading earnestness that they would mind the things which belong to their
peace. Let us make the application to ourselves.
II. GOD IS NOT
WANTING TO GLORIFY HIMSELF BY THE DEATH OF SINNERS. When God says, “Who would
set the thorns and the briars against Me in battle? I would go through them, I
would burn them together,” He speaks of the ease wherewith He could accomplish
His wrath upon His enemies. They would perish before Him like the moth. Why set
up, then, a contest so unequal as this? God is saying in the text that this is
not what He is wanting. In the language of the next verse, He would rather that
this enemy of His, not yet at peace with Him, and who may therefore be likened
to a briar or a thorn, should take hold of His strength, that He may make peace
with Him--and as the fruit of his so doing, He shall make peace with Him. Now
tell me if this do not open up a most wonderful and a most inviting view of God?
It is the real attitude in which He puts Himself forth to us in the gospel of
His Son. What remains for you to do? God is willing to save you: are you
willing to be saved?
III. THE INVITATION.
“Or let him take hold of My strength, that he may make peace with Me; and he
shall make peace with Me.” “Or” here is the same with “rather.” Rather than
that what is spoken of in the fourth verse should fall upon you. We have not
far to seek for what is meant by this strength, for Isaiah himself speaks (Isaiah 33:6) of the strength of
salvation.
1. We read of a mighty strength that had to be put forth in the work
of a sinner’s justification. Just in proportion to the weight and magnitude of the
obstacle was the greatness of that strength which the Saviour put forth in the
mighty work of moving it away. A way of redemption has been found out in the
unsearchable riches of Divine wisdom, and Christ is called the wisdom of God.
But the same Christ is also called the power of God.
2. But there is also a strength put forth in the work of man’s
regeneration.
3. When you apply to a friend for some service, some relief from
distress or difficulty, you may be said to lay hold of him; and when you place
firm reliance both on his ability and willingness to do the service, you may
well say that your hold is upon your friend--an expression which becomes all
the more appropriate should he promise to do the needful good office, in which
case your hold is not upon his power only, but upon his faithfulness. And it is
even so with the promises of God in Christ Jesus--you have both a power and a
promise to take hold of. (T. Chalmers, D. D.)
Verse 5
Let him take hold of My strength
Taking hold of the Divine strength
I.
THE
INVITATION. “Let him take hold of My strength.” This becomes an imperative
duty--a duty universal in its application.
II. THE REASON of
this invitation--“that he may make peace with Me.”
1. Observe how very unselfish it is, if we may so call it with
reverence, on the part of God. It is not that He Himself may be benefited, but
that the sinner might.
2. Consider, too, the cogency of this reason, resting as it does in
that which all men most need, and most of us long for--“peace.”
3. Regard also the sublimity of this reason--peace with “God.”
III. THE POSITIVE
ASSURANCE, or the certainty of the promise. “And he shall make peace with Me.”
Nothing shall prevent it. Comply with the conditions, and then all is certain.
Even the greatest enemies to God among men are permitted to make peace with
Him. (W. Horwood.)
Man, seizing the strength of Omnipotence
Some substitute the word “protection” for “strength” here, and suppose
the words refer to the horns of the altar which fugitives often laid hold of as
an asylum. But the refuge of safety for any moral intelligence is nothing
without God’s strength. For an insignificant creature like man to lay hold upon
the strength of Omnipotence seems at first not only an absurd, but a
blasphemous thought, and yet the thought is not without support in the Word of
God. What meaneth the expression, “Let Me alone, Moses,” etc.?
I. It is POSSIBLE
for man to lay hold on the strength of Omnipotence. In what does the real
strength of a moral intelligence consist? Not in material bulk or muscle, if he
has them; but in the leading disposition of his heart. This is the soul of
strength, the sap in the oak, the steam in the engine, the vis in the
muscle. He that can take hold of this in a man takes hold of his strength.
Vanity is the leading disposition in some men; and if you would take hold of
their strength you must flatter them. By adulation you will grasp them body and
soul. Greed is the leading disposition in others. Avarice controls them, works
their thoughts, and concentrates their energies. Minister to this greed and you
will take hold of their strength, you will have them in your hands.
Philanthropy is, thank God, the leading disposition of others. Present to them
the claims of down-trodden slaves, of broken-hearted widows and starving
orphans, and you will take hold of their strength. Now, the leading disposition
of God, if I may so say, is benevolence. He not only loves, but is love. He,
therefore, who appeals to His compassion takes hold of His strength. See how
Omnipotence halted as Abraham prayed. See how in Christ it stood still on the
road when two blind beggars said, “Jesus, Thou Son of David, have mercy upon
me.” Thus let the poor sinner go stricken in penitence and appeal in all his
misery to the Great Father, and he will take hold of His strength.
II. It is NECESSARY
for man to lay hold on the strength of Omnipotence. The only hope of sinful,
dying man is to appeal to God’s compassion. “If My people which are called by
My name shall humble themselves and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their
wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin.” “Ye
shall seek Me and find Me when ye search for Me with all your heart.” Elijah
prayed, and God unsealed the heavens for him. Stephen prayed, and the Father
drew the curtains of the invisible world and revealed to him the Son of God in
all His glory. (Homilist.)
Seizing the strength of the Almighty
How can a man take hold on the strength of God? The following
facts may give meaning to the phrase.
I. The pleading of
the PROMISE OF ONE WHO IS FAITHFUL will take hold of his strength. If a man of
incorruptible truthfulness were to make me a promise, and I pleaded the fulfilment
of that promise, should I not, in a very emphatic sense, “take hold of his
strength” in pleading it before him? I should seize not his mere limbs or any
particular faculty, but himself, his inflexible sense of truthfulness.
II. The pleading of
a RIGHT CLAIM TO ONE WHO IS RIGHTEOUS will take hold of his strength. If you
have a righteous claim upon a righteous man you lay hold of him by urging it.
You do not want law with such a man to enforce your obligation. He yields it by
the necessity of his nature. There are claims which all moral beings who are
commanded to love God with their hearts, souls, and strength have upon Him.
III. The pleading of
MISERY TO ONE THAT IS LOVING will take hold of his strength. Thus the cry of a
babe will take hold of the strength of a father, though he be the commander of
armies, or the monarch of mighty peoples. By suffering and sorrow you can take
hold of the most noble men on earth, and the most noble are the most loving. (Homilist.)
Strength taken hold of
Coriolanus was a mighty man. He is thus described by Shakespeare:
“The tartness of his face sours ripe grapes. When he walks he moves like an
engine, and the ground shrinks before his treading. He is able to pierce a
corset with his eye, talks like a knell, and his hum is a battery. He sits in
his state as a thing made for Alexander. What he bids be done is finished with
his bidding. He wants nothing of a god but eternity, and a heaven to throne
in.” And yet his mother and wife, by appealing to the love in his nature, took
hold of his strength; and hence we hear him exclaim, “Ladies, you deserve to
have a temple built you. All the swords in Italy and her confederate arms could
not have made this peace.” (Homilist.)
Verse 6
He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root
The future prosperity of the Church the effects of Divine
influence
I.
IN
RESPECT OF NUMBER. Under the ancient dispensation, the spiritual Israel were
comparatively few. But at the commencement of the Christian dispensation the
wall of partition was broken down, and the boundaries of the Church were
greatly enlarged.
II. IN RESPECT OF
SPIRITUAL VIGOUR. Others remain in a state of spiritual death. But concerning
them “that come of Jacob,” it is here asserted that they shall take root.
III. IN RESPECT OF
BEAUTY. Christ Himself, “the branch of the Lord, is beautiful and glorious” (Isaiah 4:2); and believers in Christ are
made comely through His comeliness put upon them (Ezekiel 16:14).
IV. IN RESPECT OF
FRUITFULNESS. Believers are denominated in Scripture, “trees of righteousness,”
to intimate that they should “bring forth fruit unto God.” They abound “in
every good word and work.”
V. IN RESPECT OF
JOY. It is when the dews of heaven “drop upon the pastures of the wilderness”
that it is said, “the little hills rejoice on every side.” The abundant joy of
New Testament times, especially of the times referred to in the passage before
us, is often spoken of in Scripture.
VI. IN RESPECT OF
STABILITY. It is here promised that the Lord “shall cause them that come of
Jacob to take root” The vicissitudes which take place in human affairs teach us
the vanity of the world, and the perishing nature of all that seems most
durable in this region of shadows. The Church of God, however, has been like
Mount Zion, which cannot be moved.
VII. IN RESPECT OF
EXTENT. (R. Jack.)
Verse 8
He stayeth His rough wind in the day of the east wind
The rough wind stayed
Here we are taught two things: that God permits calamities to come
upon man, but that He restrains them in moderation for some wise and merciful
design.
It would by no means be difficult to trace out historic parallels illustrative
of this truth, both in the history of nations and the annals of the Church. But
the words of the text seem capable of a closer application to ourselves and the
various calamities which so often overtake us. In Judea the east wind was
extremely violent and destructive; allusions to which are not unfrequent in the
sacred writings Job 27:21; Jeremiah 18:17). How many a one has
struggled through years of difficulty, buoyed up with the warm hope of gaining
some desired object; and just as his hopes are brightening, and the bow is
expanding with promises of realisation, the east wind comes and shrouds the
whole in darkness. The met wind has blighted your hopes and your joys, but the
rough wind has been restrained.
1. Your trials, though great, have not been inflicted with
intolerable severity; they have been dealt out to you with moderation for some
wise and gracious design.
2. The moderation of our trials will appear, if we compare them with
what is endured by others. What are our utmost trials in these highly favoured
days compared with those of the early saints? What are our trials compared with
those endured by “the noble army of martyrs”? And what are our trials compared
with many of our brethren in the present day, who endure suffering and
privation, and even death, in their intense love for souls, seeking to advance
the Redeemer’s kingdom?
3. The moderation of our trials will further appear if we contrast
them with what we have deserved. (W. J. Brock, B. A.)
Compensations
God determines very exactly the measure of our tribulation, ever
mingling mercy with judgment, and permitting trial no further than our moral
perfecting requires. He sometimes sifts by a violent wind; but He only sifts,
He does not mar and destroy.
I. LIFE AT LARGE
furnishes us with an illustration of the text. Through human sin the whole
world has been filled with disorder and suffering. Wherever we look--whether in
nature or the race--we witness scenes of confusion and misery. God did not
threaten us in vain; the power of His displeasure has been bitterly felt
throughout the whole creation. Yet are we sure that judgment has not come upon
us to the uttermost. The world is dark enough to justify a very sad philosophy,
and yet the regulations restrictive of evil, the restorative forces, the system
of compensations, the wide spaces for positive pleasure which we find in nature
and human life, show the world to be far from a condition of unmixed and
hopeless evil. The fact is, the central truth of revelation, the redemption of
the world by the Son of God, tells at every point.
II. GOD’S
PROVIDENTIAL DEALINGS WITH HIS CHILDREN illustrate abundantly the same law of
mercy. It is essential to the unlearning of our errors, and the perfecting of
our spirit in holiness, that we should be familiar with tribulation; but it is
deeply interesting to observe the various methods by which God reduces the
whirlwind to a winnowing breeze.
1. Sometimes this is effected by educating us against the day of
adversity. Most likely we are totally unaware of the process; it is only when
we have passed through the ordeal that the discipline of years stands revealed.
Then we perceive why our mind has been specially directed to given truths; why
we have been led in prayer to seek special gifts and graces; why we have formed
certain friendships and associations.
2. On other occasions the force of disaster is broken by the
graduation of trial Is not this exemplified in the instance of Job? Successive
messengers bring to the patriarch their sad tidings, but the crowning woe comes
last. The same order has been observed in the sufferings of the Primitive
Church. “So when they had further threatened them, they let them go” Acts 4:21). “And laid their hands on the
Apostles, and put them in the common prison” (Acts 5:18). “When they had called the
apostles and beaten them” (Acts 5:40). “And they stoned
Stephen” (Acts 7:59). Menaces prepared them for
captivity; fetters inured them for the scourge; the scourge ascertained their
royalty, and left them strong enough to claim the martyr’s diadem.
3. Again, tribulation is often relieved by counterbalancing
advantages. Be sure, where there is a “but” against us there are, as in the
case of Naaman, several grand “buts” for us, and it will be most to our good to
ponder these. In nature we constantly see this compensatory action--see the rod
of God, like that of Aaron, breaking into flowers. Losing eyesight, our other
faculties forthwith acquire preternatural acuteness.
4. In that law of sympathy which prevails throughout society we see
once again the sword of judgment crossed by mercy’s sceptre. The sick and
suffering are objects of special sympathy and succour. Macaulay writes of John
Bunyan: “He had several small children, and among them a daughter who was
blind, and whom he loved with peculiar tenderness. He could not, he said, bear
even to let the wind blow on her.”
III. IN GOD’S
SPIRITUAL KINGDOM AND GOVERNMENT we find our last illustration of the inspiring
truth we seek to inculcate. In the kingdom of grace are special equivalents for
life’s losses, special inspirations for the passage of flood and flame. In dark
periods we acquire a special interest in the Word of God. Times of adversity
bring out multitudes of precious promises, as night brings out the stars. And
not only so, but in the bitter conflicts of life we gain a fuller, clearer
vision of truth in general, and realise its peculiar preciousness. This fuller,
richer apprehension of the mind and purpose of God imbues us with new, strange
qualities, and the fire forgets its power to burn. In dark periods we also
receive special measures of the grace of God. We must ever gratefully
acknowledge the mercy which ameliorates the world about us and makes its
conditions gentler; but we must hold firmly the truth that the rough wind is
stayed in the day of His east wind, chiefly through the sanctification and
exaltation of the human mind in Christ Jesus. Here we often err. We plead for
the rectification and amelioration of circumstances; that our path may be
smoother, our load lighter, our sky brighter, We are anxious for better health,
improved trade, the restoration of friends, the reduction of life’s cares,
griefs and losses. We want life tempering by making our environment less
exhaustive; by adjusting the world more nearly to our weakness. But this is not
God’s most approved method. He does not modify the universe about us so much as
He raises the mind within us; giving us relief and victory in knowledge, power,
faith, hope, love, and the joy which is inseparable from a soul so richly
dowered, “In the day when I cried thou answeredst me and strengthenedst me with
strength in my soul.” Lessons--
It is generally allowed that Dante has pictured Inferno more
ably than Paradiso; and the critics explain this on the ground that the
poet’s gloomy genius made him more skilful in depicting a dark theme than a
cheerful one. The measure of Dante’s genius is rare; the kind very common
indeed. Most of us are clever at painting black pictures. (W. L. Watkinson.)
Troubles as storms
Troubles are compared in Holy Scripture to storms. As storms are
not constant, not the normal state of the atmosphere, so troubles, except in
some cases, are but occasional. As storms disturb the ordinary course of the
elements, so troubles interfere with our usual mode of life, with our duties,
with our joys, with all our habits. As storms are useful in the hand of the
Great Ruler, so troubles fulfil the good purpose of the Divine will. As storms
are not pleasant while they last, but promote discomfort, and awaken fear and
apprehension, so troubles are not for the present joyous, but grievous. As
storms are often destructive in their influence, so troubles break up and break
down things that we would not have touched--precious things, hoarded things,
cherished things, things upon which the eye and the heart rest, things which
the hand grasps firmly, things in which we rest, and on account of which we
rejoice. (S. Martin.)
Sorrows as winds
I. SORROWS ARE
STRONG FORCES. They act as winds; they are forces before which we bend and bow.
II. SORROWS HAVE
THEIR APPOINTED TIME. “In the day of the east wind.” There are certain winds
that blow at particular seasons. Just so sorrows have their appointed times in
a man’s life. There is a time to mourn. Blessed be God, in the life of Heaven’s
children, sorrows have their day, their morning, their noon, and their night.
They are here, and the day of their real dance may be long, but every hour of
that day tells of the day’s approaching end when the trouble will be no more.
Now, it occasionally happens that people in trouble say, “This affliction could
not have come upon me at a worse time.” But that is never true, unless by any
wilfulness you bring your own sorrows upon yourselves. If the trouble came at a
time when you would not feel it at all, why, the trouble would be useless to
you, and you would have to be placed in those circumstances again and again.
III. SORROWS ARE
GOD’S SERVANTS. “He stayeth His rough wind in the clay of the east wind,” just
because the winds are His. He holdeth them in His fist so long as He pleases to
hold them--and then sendeth them forth from the hollow of His hand when He
pleases to send them forth, and calleth them back into His own hand when He
pleases to recall them. Just so is it with troubles. (S. Martin.)
The adaptation of trial to the state of the afflicted
I. ADAPTED BY
WHOM. “He stayeth His rough wind,” etc. Adapted by the Almighty Father. If God
could not adapt a rough wind to a feeble nature, He would not be almighty. The
very omnipotence of God involves power to do the tender and the gentle.
II. ADAPTED TO
WHAT.
1. The strength of the sufferer. There is no man who thoroughly knows
his own strength--certainly not until it has been developed by circumstances.
There are people who overrate it; and they will say to you that they can bear
such and such a thing easily, and they look upon others, and they wonder that
they should be bowed down by events of a certain class. They are placed in
circumstances corresponding to those of their fellow men, and they find that
their strength is absolute weakness. Other persons say, “Oh! I could never bear
such a trial.” The former cannot do what he thinks he can do; the latter can do
what he thinks he cannot do. Now God makes no such mistakes. He knows just what
we are. “He knows our frame: He remembers that we are but dust.”
2. He moderates it, moreover, according to the work which has to be
accomplished. Sometimes trouble is chastening. Then trouble is intended to do a
preparatory work. Or there is something that a man has to do either down here
or yonder--some work for which he is not educated--and God sends a trouble to
educate the man. Now God moderates affliction according to the work to be
accomplished. If there be a fault to be corrected, then the trouble must have
great force in it--it must be rough in its character; whereas, if it be irately
educational--just simply to bring out some dormant faculty--then it need not be
rough in its character, but it requires to be longer continued.
3. Adapted to the time during which this work should be finished.
4. Adapted to the power and resources, moreover, of fellow
sufferers--because in most cases others suffer with us; and you do not suppose
that God does not look at the entire family when He sends sorrow unto that
family.
III. HOW DOES GOD DO
THIS? Sometimes by removing one trouble before another comes. By lightening the
affliction itself, or by so strengthening the heart of the sufferer, that the
affliction is relatively lighter, or by pouring through the soul of the
troubled one rich and abundant consolation.
IV. FOR WHAT
PURPOSE DOES GOD DO THIS? He does it for present peace and joy. Moreover, for
your enduring benefit, and in manifestation of Himself to you as a tender
Father, “He stayeth His rough wind in the day of the east wind.” Now this is
the testimony of God concerning Himself; but it is also the testimony of God’s
children concerning Him. Isaiah could say this from his own experience and
observation; and he addressed the words of our text to those who could
acknowledge them to be true. Now, tell this to one another. God intends you to
comfort each other, as well as to instruct and edify one another. Then we say to
others of you, be not afraid of the rough wind. Those of you who have not felt
it will feel it. (S. Martin.)
A grand symbolic picture of the world
The critics find fault with Rubens’ picture of the
Crucifixion--they say he has painted Golgotha like a garden where, you can
scarcely see the skulls for the flowers. This may, perhaps, be a defective
picture of Golgotha, but it is a grand symbolic picture of our world; the
things of sadness, pain, and death being half-hidden by the flowers which mercy
has caused everywhere to grow. (W. L.Watkinson.)
God’s thoughtfulness in imposing burdens
Let a ponderous weight drop suddenly on a machine, and the jerk
brings it down with a crash; graduate the strain, and no harm is done. How
easily the delicate mechanism of the moral man might be broken down! but whilst
the engineer is imperfectly versed in “the theory of strains,” and often sadly
miscalculates the “breaking point” of materials entering into his
constructions, He who made us knows perfectly the strength and frailty of each,
and with a faultless delicacy lays upon us the burdens of life. (W.
L.Watkinson.)
Life’s roses and life’s thorns
In countless ways God makes His suffering people to know that if
the roses of life bear thorns, the thorns of life also bear roses. (W. L.
Watkinson.)
God’s angels--judgment and mercy
The Jewish tradition relates that after the Fall the two angels of
God--judgment and mercy--were sent forth together to do their office upon the
sinning but redeemed race, and together they act to this day. Where one
afflicts, the other heals. Where one makes a rent, the other plants a flower.
Where one carves a wrinkle, the other kindles a smile. Where one scowls a
storm, the other spreads a rainbow. Where one poises the glittering sword, the
other covers our naked head with succouring wing. It is ever thus. His tender
mercies are over all that His hands have made, and although we have brought
upon ourselves awful sorrows, yet He so administers the world that by countless
devices He softens our lot and saves us from despair. (W. L. Watkinson.)
More affliction, more grace
Miss Havergal writes her mother: “More pain, dearest mother? May
it be more support, more grace, more tenderness from the God of all comfort,
more and more? May we not expect the ‘mores’ always to be in tender proportion
to each other?” (W. L.Watkinson.)
The compensatory element in life
Plants of great splendour have usually little fragrance, and
plants of much fragrance usually little colour; birds of brilliant plumage have
no music, and musical birds little glory of feather; strong animals ordinarily
lack speed, swift animals strength. Now that would be a very disordered state
of things in which the brilliant plant ever grieved over its defect of
sweetness, and the sweet flower its lack of colour; in which the bird of
paradise should lament its vocalism, and the nightingale sigh over its plumes;
in which the camel should fret its slowness, and the gazelle deplore its
frailty. And yet this error is common to man. We look on the side of our
limitations and bereavements, quite overlooking or undervaluing the particulars
in which we are rich or strong. (W. L.Watkinson.)
Verse 9
By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged
God’s end in sending calamities and afflictions on His people
Motives to enforce this duty of complying with the Lord’s end, in
afflicting and bringing calamities upon us.
1. Otherwise our calamities are like to continue.
2. This may increase the affliction upon you, add more weight, and
put more sting into it.
3. This may multiply your afflictions, and make them come in upon you
as waves and billows in a storm.
4. This may bring more grievous evils upon you than any you have yet
met with.
5. The Lord may give you over and refuse to correct any more.
6. He may leave you to spiritual judgments. Outward afflictions are
His rods, but these are His swords; and when upon incorrigibleness under those,
He takes up these, His wrath is raised to the height.
7. This is the way to be rejected of the Lord; for those that are not
His to be rejected wholly, for those that are His to be in part rejected Jeremiah 7:28-29).
8. This provokes the Lord to bring destruction. (D. Clarkson.)
Mortifying sin
If you would subdue your iniquity and mortify your sin--
1. Get mortifying apprehensions of it.
2. Get mortifying resolutions. Get your hearts resolved against sin;
to prosecute it to the death; to engage all the strength you have, and can
procure, in such a prosecution of it; resolve not to spare it; not to forbear
it in the least; not to tolerate it, nor suffer it to have any quiet abode in
any part of heart or life; not to enter into a parley or treaty with it; not to
yield to any cessation, much less to make any peace with it, no more than the
Israelites with those whom the Lord had devoted to destruction.
3. Get mortifying affections--affections which carry the heart from
sin, or set it against it.
4. Get mortifying graces, three especially, love to God, faith in
Him, and fear of Him.
5. Use mortifying means, those which the Lord has appointed for this
end. (D. Clarkson.)
Verse 11
It is a people of no understanding
A dreadful denunciation of judgment
I.
THE
JUDGMENT DENOUNCER.
1. Great desolation as to their outward state (Isaiah 27:10, and former part of Isaiah 27:11).
2. Utter destruction, final ruin. “He that made them will not have
mercy on them.” It is the highest severity, where no Saviour is to be found,
where “judgment” is executed “without mercy.” And this is amplified by the
consideration--
He that had formerly done so much for them, vouchsafed them such
choice mercies, yet now would renounce all kindness to them.
II. THE CAUSE OF
THE JUDGMENT TO BE INFLICTED. “It is a people of no understanding,” a sottish,
ignorant people, such as take no notice of anything, know not God, observe not
His works, understand not their duty. Other sins, no doubt, they were
chargeable with; but the Lord takes notice especially of their ignorance, and
it is for that they are here threatened. Hence we take notice, that,--
1. Ignorance of God, His truths or ways, is no security against His
judgments (Jeremiah 10:25).
2. The knowledge of the will and ways of God is necessary for them
that expect to find favour with God. They that desire God would save them, must
labour to know Him. (E. Veal, B. D.)
Spiritual knowledge
I. WHAT IS THAT
KNOWLEDGE WE ARE TO SEEK AFTER.
II. DIRECTIONS FOR
ATTAINING IT. (E. Veal, B. D.)
Spiritual knowledge necessary
1. Supposing it were certainly defined, how much knowledge, and the
knowledge of what truths, were sufficient to salvation; yet no man, that is in
a capacity of getting more knowledge, ought to acquiesce in just so much.
2. Men should in their seeking knowledge first study those truths
which are most confessedly necessary to salvation before those which are
apparently less necessary.
3. Men should labour after such a knowledge of the truth, as that
they may be able to give “a reason of the hope that is in them.”
4. Men should especially give themselves to the study, and labour
after the knowledge of the present truths (2 Peter 1:12), i.e., those
which are the special truths of the times, and ages, and places in which men
live.
5. Men should labour for such knowledge as may defend them from the
errors of the times and places in which they live.
6. Men should seek especially for such knowledge, and study such
truths, as have the greatest influence upon practice.
7. Every man should labour to get as much spiritual knowledge as he
can, by the means of the knowledge he hath gotten, and as he can get without
the neglect of other necessary duties. (E. Veal, B. D.)
Man’s forfeiture of the love of his Creator
I. THE RELATION OF
A CREATOR STRONGLY ENGAGES GOD TO PUT FORTH ACTS OF LOVE AND FAVOUR TOWARDS HIS
CREATURE. This is clear from the strength of the antithesis in these words, “He
that made them will not save them”: where, for the advantage of the expression,
it is redoubled, “He that formed them will show them no favour.” As if He
should have, it may seem strange to you that your Creator, which very name
speaks nothing but bowels of love and tenderness, should utterly confound and
destroy you. Yet thus it must be; though the relation make it strange, yet your
sins will make it true. The strength of this obligement appears in these two
considerations.
1. It is natural; and natural obligements, as well as natural
operations, are always the strongest.
2. God put this obligement upon Himself; therefore it must needs be a
great and a strong one: and this is clear, because the relation of a Creator
is, in order of nature, antecedent to the being of the creature; which not
existing, could not oblige God to create it, or assume this relation. There are
three engaging things that are implied in the creature’s relation to God, that oblige
Him to manifest Himself in a way of goodness to it.
II. SIN DISENGAGES
AND TAKES OFF GOD FROM ALL THOSE ACTS OF FAVOUR THAT THE RELATION OF A CREATOR
ENGAGED HIM TO.
1. It turns that which, in itself, is an obligation of mercy, to be
an aggravation of the offence. True it is, to make a creature, to give It being
upon a rational ground, is an argument of love. But for a creature to sin
against Him from whom it had its whole being; and that a puny creature, the
first born of nothing, a piece of creeping clay, one whom, as God created, so
He might uncreate with a breath; for such a one to fly in his Creator’s face,
this gives a deeper dye to sin.
2. Sin disengages God from showing love to the creature, by taking
away that similitude that is between God and him, which was one cause of that
love. The creature, indeed, still retains that resemblance of God that consists
in being; but the greatest resemblance that consists in moral perfections, this
is totally lost and defaced.
3. Sin discharges God from snowing love to the creature, by taking
off the creature from his dependence upon God. It cannot dissolve his natural
dependence (Acts 17:28). But our moral dependence,
which is a filial reliance upon God, this it destroys. For in sin the creature
quits his hold of God, and seeks to shift for himself and to find his happiness
within the circle of his own endeavours.
4. Sin disengages the love of God to the creature, because it renders
the creature useless, as to the end for which it was designed. The soul, by
reason of sin, is unable to act spiritually; for sin has disordered the soul,
and turned the force and edge of all Its operations against God: so that now it
can bring no glory to God by doing, but only by suffering, and being made
miserable.
Application--
1. First use is to obviate and take off that usual and common
argument that is frequently in the mouths of the ignorant, and in the hearts of
the most knowing; that certainly God would never make them to destroy them; and
therefore since He has made them, they roundly conclude that He will not
destroy them. God formed thee: true; but since thou hast sinned agent so dear a
relation, this very thing is an argument that He should destroy thee; God has
imprinted His image upon thee, but sin has defaced it. Thou art God’s
possession, a creature designed for His use: true; but sin has made thee
totally useless. Now the reasons whence men frame these kind of objections may
be these two.
2. Second use: This may serve to inform us of the curse, provoking
nature of sin. Certainly there is something in it more than ordinary, that
should make the great and merciful God take a poor creature, and shake it
almost into nothing, to rid His hands of it, to disown and let it fall out of
His protection into endless unspeakable woe and misery.
3. Third use: This may inform us under what notion we are to make our
addresses to God; not as Creator, for so He is noways suitable to our
necessities. He is offended and provoked, and we stand as outlaws and rebels to
our Maker. What shall poor sinners do? whither shall they repair? Why there is
yet hope: God’s wisdom has reconciled His justice to His mercy, and
consequently us to Himself. And now He represents Himself under a more
desirable relation, as a reconciled God. And although, under the former
relation, He drives us from Him; yet, under this, He tenderly invites us to
Him. (R. South, D. D.)
A class of sinners excluded from mercy
I. THE CHARACTERS
HERE MENTIONED are described as persons of no understanding. But what is here
meant by understanding! No one can suppose that the persons here censured and
threatened were idiots or madmen. Had this been their character, they would
have been incapable of sin, and consequently undeserving of punishment. The
word “understanding” is obviously used in this passage, as in very many others,
to signify spiritual understanding, or a knowledge of religious truth. But some
may ask, if all men are naturally without spiritual understanding, and if, as
the text asserts, God will not have mercy on such as sustain this character,
will it not follow that He can have mercy on none? Though all men are naturally
without spiritual under standing, this declaration does not refer to all. It
refers to those only who, like the Jews, have long enjoyed, but have abused or
neglected means of grace and opportunities of acquiring religious knowledge.
II. THE
TERRIBLENESS OF THIS THREATENING. There is something terrible in its very
sound. But its meaning is much more terrible. It includes everything, dreadful,
everything which man has reason to deprecate. This threatening implies--
1. That God will either deny them the common blessings of His
providence, or grant them those blessings in anger, and send a curse with them.
2. That God will either deprive sinners of their religious
privileges, means, and opportunities, or withhold His blessing and thus render
them useless. Thus He dealt with the Jews. He still sent them messengers and
instructions and warnings, but did not send a blessing with them.
3. That God will withhold from such characters the awakening,
enlightening, and sanctifying influences of His Spirit.
4. That at the judgment day God will condemn such characters to
depart accursed into everlasting fire. There is no medium between mercy and
condemnation.
III. IT IS PERFECTLY
JUST.
1. Because the persons against whom this threatening is denounced
never ask for mercy, never seek the favour of God.
2. These persons have long rejected and abused the offered mercy and
grace of God.
3. This threatening is just because the characters to whom it refers
must be guilty of many other aggravated offences. They must have been destitute
of the fear of God; for to fear Him is the beginning of wisdom. They must have
refused to renounce their sins; for to depart from evil is understanding. They
must have loved darkness rather than light; for they rejected the latter and
chose the former; and the reason was, their deeds were evil. They must have followed
and imitated sinners; for this all do who are void of understanding. They must
have disobeyed God’s commands; for all who obey them have a good understanding.
(E. Payson, D. D.)
Verse 12
Ye shall be gathered one by one
The one-by-one principle
This principle is developed--
I.
IN
THE DEALINGS OF PROVIDENCE.
II. IN THE
PROVISIONS OF THE GOSPEL.
III. IN THE
REQUIREMENTS OF THE LAW OF GOD. (F. Greeves.)
Gathered one by one
1. There is a country whose mysterious shores are visited each year
by thousands from every continent of earth, and not one of them ever returns to
detail its marvels. It is called in Scripture “a land of darkness, and the
shadow of death.” It is a great republic, though it has a despot for its ruler;
and it is the only one in which the dream of human equality can be fully
realised. There “the rich and the poor meet together,” and are on a perfect
level; there the cheek of beauty, the form of grace, and the withered limbs of
age, are alike the banquet of the heedless worm; “there the prisoners rest
together; they hear not the voice, of the oppressor; the small and the great
are there, and the slave is free from his master. There, side by side, in peaceful
slumber, lie “kings of the earth, and all people; princes, and the judges of
the earth: both young men and maidens; old men, and children.” Mysterious land!
And oh! how densely peopled! But does it not throw a fearful solemnity over
this thought, when we consider that to it we shall be gathered one by one? We
live together; we act together; but we must die alone. Shall not this
consideration lead you to remember your individuality now, and one by one to
prepare for that hour by working out your salvation with fear and trembling?
2. Solemn, however, as is this gathering of the grave, it derives,
fresh importance from the fact, that we need not fear, and we must not hope
that it will be the last gathering. “Behold, I show you a mystery; we shall not
all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an
eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and we shall be raised
incorruptible.” What a gathering that shall be! They shall come, the dead of
all generations--from Adam to Noah, from Noah to Abraham, from Abraham to
David, from David to the Saviour, from the Saviour to us, from ourselves to the
judgment; all shall come; the sea shall give up the dead that are in it, and
the earth the dead that are in it, and death and hell the dead that are in
them; and the whole posterity of Adam, young and old, rich and poor, countless
as the sands on the seashore, or the stars of
Heaven--all, without exception, shall be gathered there. But let
us not forget the principle before us. Each individual of that mighty gathering
will retain his own personal identity.
3. This, however, is but the opening scene of a yet more tremendous
tragedy. It is but the lurid dawning of “the great and terrible day of the
Lord.” There shall be yet another gathering, the most momentous gathering of
our race, and the last. Each one of us shall give account of himself to God.
4. Learn thus that you have an individuality. Each one of you has
powers, duties, talents, responsibilities, which you cannot share with any other
being in the universe of God. You may commit sin in a crowd; but when you are
judged for it you must stand alone.
5. Will ye be gathered now, gathered to the Saviour’s arms, “gathered
one by one”? (F. Greeves.)
Gathered in death one by one
We often ask why should we die alone? It is not for us to give an
answer for God. The Judge of all the earth will do right. Our entrance into the
world is one by one; it is not unnatural that our departure should be the same.
Each one’s conversion, marriage, all the great events of life, are passed
through, not in the mass, but each by himself, one by one.
I. The
individuality of God’s dealings with men in their highest and most solemn
experiences is AN HONOUR AND A FAVOUR. Each is thus made His special care. The
most precious fruit is gathered by hand.
II. THE SHOCK OF
BEREAVEMENT IS THUS LESSENED a sparing mercy to those who are left to mourn.
III. WARNINGS OF THE
INEVITABLE HOUR ARE THUS MULTIPLIED, that survivors may prepare. (Homiletic
Review.)
“Gathered one by one,”
“Gathered one by one,” i.e., ye shall carefully gathered
together, and brought safe into your own land. The words are taken from olives
or apples or the like fruits, which are gathered one by one, and so laid up in
some place appointed; which olives or apples or other fruit so gathered last
better than they which are beaten off or shaken down from the tree. He seems to
oppose this gathering one by one, to that “beating off” mentioned in this
verse. (W. Day, M. A.)
Verse 13
The great trumpet shall be blown
The Gospel trumpet
I.
THE
PREACHING OF THE GOSPEL IS HERE COMPARED TO THE BLOWING OF A TRUMPET.
1. This figurative expression may allude to the trumpet which sounded
upon Mount Sinai, at the solemn promulgation of the law. And though the
ministers of Christ must not blend the law and the Gospel together, yet they
are not Gospel ministers who do not preach the law, both as a ministration of
wrath and as a rule of duty.
2. The words may allude to the trump of jubilee, which was sounded
throughout the land of Israel at the end of every forty-nine years, proclaiming
redemption and liberty to all prisoners and slaves, and causing the following
to be a year of national festivity and joy (Leviticus 25:8-13). This interesting
period having been prefigurative of our redemption by Christ, of our
deliverance from the curse of the law and the dominion of sin, and of our
introduction to the glorious liberty of the children of God, it is with great
propriety that the proclamation of the Gospel is compared to the trump of
jubilee.
3. Trumpets were also used on other occasions, which may bear some
allusion to the proclamation of the Gospel. The Jews had an annual solemnity,
which by way of distinction was called the feast of trumpets, and which
introduced the new year (Leviticus 23:24). And these
demonstrations of joy, like the rest of that typical dispensation, were only
the shadow of good things to come; all had a reference to the promulgation of
the Gospel.
4. Whatever be the immediate allusion in the text it is evident that
the principal design of a trumpet is to sound an alarm; and such is the direct
object of the Gospel ministry.
5. The preaching of the Gospel is compared to a “great trumpet.”
Great things were contained in God’s law, but still greater things are made
known by the Gospel.
6. The great trumpet which was sounded by the first heralds of
salvation, continues still to proclaim the same good tidings.
II. THE EFFECT
WHICH WAS TO FOLLOW UPON THE SOUNDING OF THE GOSPEL TRUMPET. “They shall come
which were ready to perish.” Men as sinners are in a perishing condition. But
those only who see and feel their perishing condition actually “come.”
1. This “coming” implies repentance towards God.
2. Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ; for with this, all true repentance
is invariably connected.
3. All that come unto God by a Mediator, will also come to Zion with
their faces thitherward, openly professing their attachment to Christ, and
devoting themselves to His service. The text, indeed, seems to be a prophecy of
the union that should take place between Jews and Gentiles, under the Gospel
dispensation, when they should be formed into one body, and equally participate
in the blessings of salvation. The trumpet of the Gospel is still sounding in
our ears, proclaiming the great jubilee, the day of salvation, and inviting us
to seek the Lord in this welcome and accepted time. Have we embraced the
invitation, and answered to the call? (B. Beddome, M. A.)
The Gospel trumpet
I. We make TWO
EXPLANATORY REMARKS.
1. The prediction primarily refers to the proclamation of Cyrus for
the deliverance of the Jews from captivity.
2. This prophecy has an ulterior reference to the times of the
Messiah, and the inbringing of the Jews in the latter days.
II. We consider THE
GREATNESS AND GRANDEUR OF THE GOSPEL here represented by a great trumpet.
Trumpets were of very common use among God’s ancient people. They directed
their journeys, animated them on the march, reused them to arms against the
invader, and sounded the dreadful onset to battle, proclaimed the tidings of
victory, and summoned the people to divide the spoil. The chief use of the
instrument is to give strength to the human voice, that warnings or invitations
might be more extensively heard. No kind of wind instrument was in more general
use, and therefore no symbol could have been selected with which they were more
familiarly acquainted. Their solemn assemblies were convened by its sound; and
surely the greatness and the grandeur of the Gospel is hereby strikingly and
significantly symbolised.
1. The greatness of the Gospel will appear from the dignity and moral
grandeur of its Author.
2. From the gracious tidings it proclaims.
3. From the objects it hath already accomplished and is destined to
achieve.
III. We notice that
THE PREACHING OF THE GOSPEL IS THE GREAT ORDINANCE OF GOD FOR THE SALVATION OF
MEN. “The great trumpet shall be blown.” Its sound shall be long and loud, that
the proclamation of “the glad tidings of great joy” shall be universal.
Conclusion--
1. Let Christians appreciate their advantages and highly prize the
Gospel Psalms 89:15).
2. Let Gospel despisers fear, and flee for refuge to the hope set
before them in the Gospel (Hebrews 2:2).
3. Let all rejoice in the glorious results already secured and yet to
be achieved by the preaching of the Gospel. (W. M Queen.)
The blast of the Gospel trumpet
I. THE PERIOD to
which this promise or prophecy refers. That day. In the prophetical parts of
Scripture, this phrase is often to be understood of New Testament times.
II. THE GREAT MEANS
that God promises to employ in New Testament days for accomplishing His design
among the Gentiles. “The great trumpet shall be blown.”
1. The Gospel intimates to all that hear it, the offering of a great
sacrifice.
2. The Gospel contains an indication of a joyful and solemn feast.
3. The Gospel is the appointed means of gathering a solemn assembly.
As me silver trumpets were used for gathering the assemblies in Israel, so the
Gospel is employed, according to Christ’s appointment, for gathering a Church
to Himself.
4. The Gospel is the great means of directing the march of the armies
of the spiritual Israel, through the wilderness of this world. When the priests
sounded an alarm with the trumpets, the tribes of Israel were to decamp, and
set forward in their journeys, in that order which God had appointed.
5. The Gospel is the great means of calling forth the armies of the
living God to that spiritual warfare in which they are engaged under
Christ,--of directing their motion in the day of battle,--and of animating them
to continue the combat, amidst all the dangers and terrors with which they
often find themselves surrounded. The silver trumpets were also to be used to
blow an alarm when Israel was called to go to war against any enemy that should
oppress them in their land.
6. The Gospel proclaims an universal jubilee to all that hear it.
III. THE PERSONS
UPON WHOM THE SOUND OF THIS GREAT TRUMPET SHALL TAKE EFFECT are described by
two circumstances.
1. They are persons ready to perish. The original worn is still more
emphatical--there shall come “the perishing in the land of Assyrian” All
mankind are, by nature, in a perishing condition. Situated in desert land,
which affords no provision but empty husks, we faint for spiritual thirst and
hunger, and are ready to perish for want. Led captive by a cruel enemy, we are
ready to perish by the weight of our chains. Enslaved by a tyrannical master,
and employed in the vilest drudgery, we are ready to perish through fatigue and
weariness. Sunk into a fearful pit, and struggling, without a possibility of
extricating ourselves, in the miry clay, we must quickly perish without
supernatural help. Above all, being condemned to death by a just sentence of
the Court of Heaven, we are every moment in danger of perishing by the hand of
justice.
2. They are outcasts. There seems to be here an allusion to the
situation of the Hebrew children in Egypt, who, by Pharaoh’s inhuman decree,
were all to be cast out into the river.
IV. THE PLACES FROM
WHICH THESE PERSONS WERE TO BE GATHERED, by the sound of the great trumpet, are
also two. “The land of Assyria” and “the land of Egypt.” These two countries
are mentioned as examples: and what is here said of them has been verified, and
will again be verified in all other countries resembling them. Perishing
sinners have been gathered from every quarter.
V. THE END TO BE
GAINED by the blast of this trumpet among them. This also is set before us in
two particulars.
1. They shall come.
2. As they come, they worship. This imports--
The blowing of the great trumpet
I. THE BLOWING OF
THE GREAT TRUMPET.
II. THE CHARACTERS
IN WHOSE EARS AND HEARTS THIS GREAT TRUMPET IS TO BE BLOWN.
III. THE EFFECT
WHICH THE BLOWING OF THE GREAT TRUMPET PRODUCES UPON THEM. (J. C. Philpot.)
The great trumpet
I. SEE HOW A
COMPARISON OF SCRIPTURE WITH SCRIPTURE WILL ENABLE US TO UNDERSTAND THE WORD
“TRUMPET.”
II. THE BLOWING OF
THE TRUMPET.
III. THE RESULTS OF
THAT BLOWING. (J. H. Crowder, M. A.)
The Gospel trumpet
I. THE GRANDEUR OF
THE GOSPEL.
“The great trumpet.” It is elsewhere called a great light--a great
salvation There is a grandeur in the glorious Gospel of God which soars far
beyond all finite excellency and conception.
1. The period of its introduction is called “the fulness of time.”
2. The Gospel regards immediately the soul and eternity--the only two
things in the world which are absolutely great.
3. The Gospel abounds with exceeding great and precious promises; it
unfolds blessings that are incomprehensible in their nature and excellency.
4. Everything, compared with the Gospel, is trifling and mean.
II. THE
DISPENSATION OF THE GOSPEL. The great trumpet is to be “blown.”
1. Who is to blow this trumpet? Men, and not angels. There is a
difference here between the administration of the law and the dispensation of
the Gospel.
2. How is this trumpet to be blown? Common sense says, in such a way
as to answer the design of its being blown. There must be no ambiguity in our
preaching. It should be blown courageously.
III. WHAT IS THE
CONDITION OF THOSE TO WHOM THE GOSPEL IS ADDRESSED? “Outcasts, and ready to
perish.” This is the figure; and what is the fact? “Remember that at that time
ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and
strangers from the covenants of promise; having no hope, and without God in the
world.” You are not heathen; but turn to Scripture, and you will find that you
are all by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
IV. Its ATTRACTION
must be noticed. “They shall come.” Whatever knowledge the heathen had, they
were utterly unable to carry it into effect, both for want of evidence and want
of authority. None of them could speak in the name of that God who calleth the
things that are not as though they were. Hence, we find Plato complaining that
he was unable, by all his instructions, to bring over the inhabitants of a
single village. Now, go to Thessalonica, to Corinth, to Colosse, to Ephesus;
survey the character of the inhabitants before they received the Gospel: it is
largely described by the apostle; we cannot suppose that the devil himself
could make or wish them worse. Yet the apostle stands forth, and says, “Such
were some of you; ye were sometimes far off; ye were dead in trespasses and
sins”; but, “you hath He quickened. Our Gospel came unto you, not in word only,
but in power also; the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power.” Accordingly,
the Gospel is expressed evermore by images which indicate its efficacy. It is
called a two-edged sword--leaven, which commences its operations in the centre,
and extends them to the circumference until the whole is leavened--seed, which,
though it looks dead, yet fills the earth with its fruit, thirty, sixty, a
hundred fold. This success God Himself has ensured, or we could not reckon upon
it. The Gospel never leaves people as it finds them: it enlightens their
understandings; it prevails on their wills; it purifies their affections; it
makes them new creatures. How can we honour the Gospel so much as by showing
what it can do? The trumpet is blown; but it is heard--it is answered--they
“come.”
1. How do they come? With weeping and with supplication; they come
eagerly, hastening, running, flying like doves to their windows when they
behold the approaching storm.
2. From whence do they come? From the dark dens of ignorance--from
the lurking holes of hypocrisy--from the false refuges of pharisaism--from the
service of sin--from the bondage of Satan.
3. To whom do they come! Christ is the only resource. What is faith,
what is religion, but the soul in motion to Him, and negotiating all its
affairs with Him!
V. THE EFFECT OF
ITS INFLUENCE. “They shall come and worship the Lord in the holy mount at
Jerusalem.” We ever find this dedication of themselves to God, in connection
with the spread and influence of the Gospel. “All the ends of the world shall
hear, and shall turn unto God; all nations whom Thou hast made, shall come unto
Thee and worship Thee; from the rising of the sun to the going down of the
same, in every place men shall offer incense and a pure offering.” The “holy
mount” means the Church of God. And in this mount all who partake of Gospel grace,
worship. They do so habitually, in the shop--in the warehouse--in the field;
for “where’er they seek Him, He is found.” They do so in private. All these
worship God in their families too. In His sanctuary also. CONCLUSION--
1. This Scripture has been fulfilled. Myriads in Heaven have
exemplified its truth, the numbers that rejoice in it in our day are wonderful;
but soon there shall he vaster accessions still. A nation shall be born in a
day. Have you heard the sound of this trumpet? Have you obeyed?
2. If the sound of this peaceful trumpet is despised, I must remind
you that another great trumpet will be blown. Ere long shall be heard the voice
of the archangel, and the trump of God.
3. But, here are some who are alive to the text. You have heard the sound
of this trumpet; you have come. What are you doing? Surely, you are giving
thanks unto Him who has called you out of darkness into light; who has made you
meet for the inheritance of the saints. Surely, you are endeavouring to bring
others into the same condition. (W. Jay.)
The silver trumpet
As when the front and back doors of a barn are open, a gust of
wind scatters the dust and chaff, so the Jews had been swept every
whither--some wandering in Assyria, and some exiled in Egypt; but their coming
back, as by the call of a trumpet, is here predicted. The passage is strongly
descriptive of the exiled and perishing condition of sinful men, and of their
return at the trumpet call of the Gospel.
1. Need I stop to prove that out of God we are in exile? Who here is
at home in his sins? Does he not wander about looking for a home? You have been
expatriated. You are in worse than Siberian exile. The chains are harder. The
mine is darker. The climate is colder. The gloom is ghastlier. “Lost in the
land of Assyria! “If a man has missed his way, the more he walks the more he is
lost. He starts off and goes ten miles in the wrong direction. Nor can you find
your way out of this spiritual confusion. Lost, and without food. Lost, and
without water. Ingenious little children sometimes tell you how, with a few
letters, they can spell a very large word. With three letters I can spell
“bereavement.” With three letters I can spell “disappointment.” With three
letters I can spell “suffering.” With three letters I can spell “death.” With
three letters I can spell “perdition.” S-i-n, Sin. That is the cause of all our
trouble now. That is the cause of our trouble for the future.
2. But upon this dark background of the text a light falls. Amidst
the harsh discords there sound the sweet and thrilling notes of a great
trumpet. A trumpet, God made, yet needing no giants to use it, but suited to
faint lips and trembling hand and feeble lungs; so that sick Edward Payson,
leaning against the pulpit, might hold it, and Frederick Robertson, worn out
with ulcers and spinal complaints, might breathe through it. This Gospel
trumpet is great in its power. On a still night you may hear the call of a
brazen trumpet two or three miles; but this is so mighty that it is not only
heard from heaven to earth, but it is to arrest the attention of all nations.
Blowing of the great trumpet
We shall look at the text as applying to heathens as well as Jews,
even to all who are ignorant of and are rejecting the Lord Jesus Christ as
their Saviour. With regard to these there are three things to be looked at--
I. THEIR URGENT
NEED. They are described as “ready to perish.” The word is literally “lost.”
The idea is that of a lost sheep. Or of a lost child who has left his home and
wandered into the fields, or into the woods, and been overtaken by night and
darkness. There is no one to care for him, no one to guide him, no one to
shelter him. He is left to himself. A hundred things may happen that may be
death to him. Without knowing it, he may be on the point of falling over a
precipice or into a river. Now, a child or a man who has gone astray from God
is ready to perish too. Still more is it true of everyone who is not a believer
in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is true, alas! of many even in this highly
favoured land of ours. It is true of the Jews. And what shall I say of the
heathen.
II. THE HELP
WANTED. What is to be done to meet this terrible state of things? If it were a
dying man--a perishing child--we should ask, Is there anything that will save
the dying one--any medicine or food--anything we can give--anything we can do?
And that should be our question about the perishing millions all over the
world.
1. The sounding of the trumpet may be regarded as typical of the
preaching of the Gospel, by which both the outcasts of Israel and the “ready to
die” of all nations are to be saved.
2. But there must be someone to sound the trumpet. It cannot sound of
itself. It must be “blown.” And who are to do this, but those who have heard it
and complied with its call themselves, and who, with hearts full of love and
thankfulness, can sing, “Blessed are the people that know the joyful sound”? It
is as much our duty to blow the trumpet as to hear it.
3. How, then, are we to blow the trumpet? None of us are too young or
feeble to sound the trumpet ourselves. In our own way we can tell the story of
redeeming love.
III. THE SUCCESS
PROMISED. “They which were ready to perish shall come.” The return from the
Jewish captivity was wonderful in its own way; but more and better is in store,
for “all Israel shall be saved.” Already many Jews and Jewesses have been
converted to Christ. And as regards the heathen world, the history of the
progress of the Gospel in recent times reads almost like a chapter of the Acts
of the Apostles. And yet it must be owned that anything like a complete
fulfilment of the promise is still a thing of the future. What is to be done?
The great trumpet must be sounded as it never has been. (J. H. Wilson, D. D.)
The urgency of missions
Are not missions to Jews and heathens and Mohammedans hopeless?
They don’t want them; they won’t have them. But does it not only make the case
the stronger if they do not know their need and their danger, and do not ask
for help? Perhaps, in some cases, they refuse help when it is offered. And what
of that? As I pass along the banks of a stream, I see something in a pool. On
going nearer, I see it is the body of a boy. There is no cry for help, there is
no outstretched hand. He is past all that. Am I, on that account, not to give
help! Is not the call all the louder and more urgent? (J. H. Wilson, D. D.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》